Comment by KennyBlanken
3 years ago
...according to one textbook, in one country, that happens to have the largest prison population in the world both per capita and in total.
> Retribution prevents future crime by removing the desire for personal avengement (in the form of assault, battery, and criminal homicide, for example) against the defendant. When victims or society discover that the defendant has been adequately punished for a crime, they achieve a certain satisfaction that our criminal procedure is working effectively, which enhances faith in law enforcement and our government.
And yet when victims and victim families are interviewed on this subject, most of them aren't terribly satisfied by criminals being "punished."
What they typically care about is that the person won't harm others, and that's where rehabilitation comes in.
> according to one textbook, in one country
Concepts of justice are old. They tend to include these elements, though I’m open to seeing how others formalize its aims.
> when victims and victim families are interviewed on this subject, most of them aren't terribly satisfied by criminals being "punished."
Source needed. Also, retribution reduces not only victims taking the law into their own hands, but also the public.
Note that I am not saying every incarceration needs a retributive component. The American justice system is absolutely too retributive. But it’s an old institution [1] for good reason.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retributive_justice
> What they typically care about is that the person won't harm others, and that's where rehabilitation comes in.
I'm not sure this is true for society at large. There's zero chance that Elizabeth Holmes will pull off another Theranos, or that Sam Bankman-Fried will pull off another FTX. It's hard not to see their sentences as being entirely for retribution and deterrence (deterring others). And few if any comments here took issue with that.
You're focusing on retribution, but incapacitation is the primary purpose of prisons and is used even in whatever progressive European countries you think America should be emulating. Somebody like Brevik will never be released; he's being incapacitated not rehabilitated. Making sure criminals can't hurt the public again is the first priority, only then can rehabilitation even be considered.
That its rehabilitation is an extremely new view that is only found in a minority of nations. Your comment more than cuts both ways
Youre right, we should chop off the hands of thieves and stone adulturesses. </s>